We are seeking a doctoral candidate in regenerative business and more than human organizational practices in cooperation with DREAM+PLAN program.
Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we at LUT University seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences.
DREAM+PLAN is a doctoral program enabled by a consortium of European Universities, together with an ecosystem of associated partners, including SMEs, multinationals, unicorns, NGOs, civil society associations, innovation agencies, clusters and policymakers. DREAM+PLAN brings together a community of visionary changemakers, leaders, who dream big and develop tangible pathways for solving local and global climate-related challenges, all united by a mission to create a positive impact, towards a more sustainable, fair, inclusive and thriving planet for future generations.
If you are passionate about innovation, sustainability, and collaborating with global leaders, this is the perfect chance to be part of a transformative experience. We are looking for dynamic individuals to start their impactful PhD journey, contributing to projects that drive positive change.
1. General Information
Foreseen enrolment date: September 2025
Position is funded by
- COFUND, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe, European Union
- LUT University
- RMIT University
Research Host: LUT University
PhD awarding institutions: LUT University & RMIT University
Locations
- Primary: Lappeenranta, Finland
- Secondary: Melbourne, Australia
Salary: 32 600 EUR annual gross salary (2 716 EUR monthly gross salary)
Supervisors
- Laura Albareda, Professor, LUT University
- Chris Speed, Professor, RMIT University
- Michael Dunbar, Lecturer, RMIT University
Group of discipline: Business & Management / Entrepreneurship
2. Research topics (only one of these projects will be funded)
Project 1: Regenerative business and caring approaches
- This research focuses on understanding regenerative organizing through the lens of caring ethics. Puig De la Bellacasa (2017) argues that sustaining human life on Earth requires a reconfiguration of the concept of care, expanding it to encompass more-than-human worlds. This study is grounded in posthumanist ontologies that go beyond traditional human/non-human relations, decentralizing human agency in favor of care and ethics. The caring ethical subjectivity of Mother Earth and feminist posthumanism offer diverse perspectives for exploring the ontologies and epistemologies of business-nature regeneration.
- The main goal is to theorize regenerative business and care by considering the experiences of non-human agencies in organizational practices within collective natural commons. This will involve exploring solidarity and care from a more-than-human performativity perspective, as well as investigating human-non-human relationality through caring discourses and narratives. The PhD candidate will examine empirical cases of human-nature caring and solidarity, such as indigenous women in organic food or communities of urban waste regeneration.
- Supervisors: Laura Albareda (LUT), Chris Speed (RMIT), Michael Dunbar (RMIT)
- Research Fields: Regenerative Organizing, Posthumanism, Ethics
Project 2: Regenerative business and more-than-human organizing
- This research focuses on understanding regenerative business through more-than-human organizing. The PhD candidate will explore how regenerative organizing extends epistemologies, social-ecological systems organizing and value systems by examining business practices within multi-species contexts.
- The goal is to study how organizations with more-than-human relationships address and reconfigure challenges related to ecological and natural commons, such as freshwater cycles and biodiversity, while incorporating non-human agencies—including biophysical materiality, ecosystems, technology, artifacts, and symbols. Design research has demonstrated how post-human and more-than-human design can reveal new organizing approaches (Giaccardi et al 2016, Wakkary 2021). This novel approach could be grounded in the relational performativity of practices, more-than-human design methodologies, entanglements, and human-non-human intra-actions (Barad, 2007). The PhD candidate will investigate empirical cases of multi-species and more-than-human organizing, focusing on bio circular economy and explore how multi-species and other agencies co-create performativity in regenerative organizing.
- Supervisors: Laura Albareda (LUT), Chris Speed (RMIT), Michael Dunbar (RMIT)
- Research Fields: Regenerative Business, Bio Circular Economy
Project 3: Regenerative business and prospective theorizing for desirable futures
- This research focuses on regenerative futures aimed at transforming organizations entangled with nature, guided by natural temporalities. Recently, in organization and management studies, scholars have explored prospective theorizing to understand how to create more desirable futures (Gümüsay & Reinecke, 2022, 2024). A key component of these desirable futures is building an economy that does not exploit nature and ecosystems. Prospective theorizing aims to be performative (Reinecke et al., 2022), seeking to change individual and organizational behaviour in order to transform future economies and societies. Scholars propose that prospective theorizing can be performative by actively shaping more desirable futures. Design research has demonstrated how speculation, fabulation and critical design can support the development of inclusive futures (Dunne & Raby 2013, Søndergaard 2003).
- The goal of this PhD is to explore how non-mainstream actors experiment with human-nature transformation, including horizontal decision-making and polycentric governance. The empirical research will examine human and non-human behaviours and their dynamics within social-ecological systems, temporal modalities, identifying anomalies, novel patterns, and feedback loops to develop a theory of prospective business-nature regeneration performativity and human-non-human organizing. The empirical cases will explore how to avoid undesirable futures and instead perform desirable futures in human-nature entanglements, such as indigenous land stewardship and regenerative ocean farming.
- Supervisors: Laura Albareda (LUT), Chris Speed (RMIT), Michael Dunbar (RMIT)
- Research Fields: Regenerative Futures, Human-Nature Transformation
3. Employment Benefits and Conditions
LUT University offers a 48-month full time work contract (12-month term, extended for 36 months provided that the studies progress satisfactorily). There is a probation period of 6 months and the annual workload for researchers is 1,612 hours / year.
The remuneration, in line with the European Commission rules for Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant holders, and in line with the General collective agreement for Finnish universities, will consist of a gross annual salary of est. 32 600 EUR (excl. holiday bonus) with salary increases up to 44 700 EUR as the studies proceed. Of this amount, the estimated first year net salary* to be perceived by the researcher is 2 080 EUR per month. However, the definite amount to be received is subject to national tax legislation.
For more information on Finnish taxation, please visit here.
*Net salaries can fluctuate in accordance with an individual’s personal circumstances (marital status, age, disability, family and dependents, etc. The above indicative net salaries offer an approximation of what a single person in their early 20s could expect to receive in their bank account after taxes.)
Benefits include
- Becoming a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow and be invited to join the Marie Curie Alumni Association
- Access to all the necessary facilities at LUT University and RMIT University
- Tuition fees exemption at both PhD awarding institutions
- Travel allowance to cover flights and accommodation for participating in DREAM+PLAN events
- Up to 12 months in Australia
- Occupational health care
- Paid sick leave for a limited period
- Holiday bonus
- 6 weeks paid holiday + Finnish public holidays (all together about 8 weeks).
- Social security coverage
4. PhD enrolment
Successful candidates for this position will be enrolled by the following institutions and must comply with their specific entry requirements, in addition to DREAM+PLAN’s conditions.
LUT University
To enrol in a Doctorate program you must meet the general conditions:
- a relevant Master's degree awarded by a university
- a relevant Master's degree awarded by a university of applied sciences; or
- a relevant applicable study programme abroad which in the awarding country gives eligibility for the corresponding level of higher education.
International degrees
- The degree has to be an official or recognised degree in its country of origin.
- As a rule, at least four-year education is required including a Master's thesis or corresponding final thesis.
- In all cases the doctoral programme in question considers case by case whether degrees earned abroad provide a sufficient foundation for postgraduate studies at LUT University.
- The precondition for the recognition of European degrees is that the degree is a university degree combination earned in accordance with the Bologna Process principles (3+2 years). The applicant is required to submit information in English (for example a Diploma Supplement) on the scope and the level of the degree/s obtained abroad when applying to LUT.
- If you apply for the right to study for a doctoral degree with an international degree please contact LUT Doctoral School for additional instructions before submitting study right application documents.
- Economics and Business Administration: One-year (60 ECTS credits) MBA-degrees do not generally qualify for doctoral studies. Candidates with an MBA-degree and their eligibility to apply will be considered case-by-case.
5. How to Apply
To apply and learn more about available positions, please visit Offered PhD Positions | Dream. You can access the PDF version of this call here. The deadline for applications is 13 March at 23:59 CET.
6. Contact Information
For further information, please contact info@dreamplusplan.eu.
Explore LUT as an employer and get information for international staff.
Find out more about the DREAM+PLAN program.
LUT University | Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we at LUT University seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences. We help society and businesses in their sustainable renewal. Our international community consists of over 9,000 members. Our campuses are in Lappeenranta and Lahti, Finland. We are one of the world's top universities for climate action. lut.fi/en
